Donald Trump’s Supporters Thought His Scolding of Rioters Was Fake
Back in 2021, former president Donald Trump’s most rabid supporters tried to claim this video of him (lightly) condemning those involved in the January 6 attacks on the capitol was actually an advanced deepfake. In the video Trump, who just days before encouraged those same rioters to try and upend the 2020 election, claimed he was “outraged” at his supporters who “defiled the seat of American democracy.”
Mixed messages, to say the least, but the video was not deepfaked. Still, some supporters refused to believe Trump’s statements and claimed perceived discrepancies in the former president’s hair color or his head movement proved the video was a fake. It wasn’t.
The White House released a #DeepFake video. No way that was the @realDonaldTrump.
— Mike Hirschberg (@vstol) January 8, 2021
